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Timeline

The roots of the Every Child Promise started with the Springfield News-Leader's Every Child public service journalism project. That project, started two years ago, aimed to focus public attention on critical challenges facing children in our community, to foster discussion and to build on existing initiatives to find solutions. A community-driven initiative, which became the Every Child Promise, then formed an executive committee to explore next steps. Here are the 2013 highlights and what is planned through the end of the year: • Mid-February — Todd and Betty Parnell sign on as co-chairs. Todd Parnell, a former banker, was president of Drury University until the end of May. Betty Parnell is a former teacher and counselor. • March — Dana Carroll, deputy director of early childhood for the Community Partnership of the Ozarks, named Springfield's Child Advocate. Funding for the first three years of the position raised privately. • April — Work with Leadership Springfield, Class 27, to pilot a strategic plan template using the topic of child abuse. • May — Participate in a televised town hall meeting at the conclusion of "Ready to Learn," a joint project between KY3 and the News-Leader. • June — Develop promise with supporting objectives during an executive committee retreat. • Late summer — Communicate the promise and plan while chairs of the five subcommittees start to select 10-12 committee members. • September and October — Subcommittees meet to complete a preliminary plan. • November — Conduct a preliminary analysis of proposed objectives from the sub-committees and then hold forums to get widespread community input. • This month — Complete Every Child Promise Strategic Plan and present it to executive committee for approval.

Executive Committee Members

This steering committee is co-chaired by Todd and Betty Parnell. The other members include: • Roseann Bentley, Greene County commissioner • Janet Dankert, executive director, Community Partnership of the Ozarks • Brian Fogle, president and CEO, Community Foundation of the Ozarks • Sandy Howard, vice president for public affairs, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce • Jennifer Kennally, president and CEO, United Way of the Ozarks • Brooke O’Reilly, community volunteer, past president of Junior League of Springfield • Norm Ridder, superintendent, Springfield Public Schools • Bob Stephens, Springfield mayor • Mark Struckhoff, executive director, Council of Churches of the Ozarks • Mike White, chairman, Mayor's Commission for Children

The Every Child Promise

“Our community promises to empower families so that every child age birth to six has the opportunity to enter our schools ready to learn. “Our mission is to prepare a long-term strategic plan to deliver this promise, setting game-changing strategic objectives, utilizing the broad existing network of child advocates, identifying and addressing gaps, coordinating strategies, measuring and communicating progress to the community, and seeking sustainable funding for effective and proven programs. “Our focus is on every child in our community, age birth to six, and on investing wisely now to save later.” Get more information and find out how to help at EveryChildPromise.org. Dana Carroll, Springfield's Child Advocate, is the point person for questions about the Every Child Promise. Carroll has an office at 330 N. Jefferson Ave. and can be reached at 631-4484 or dana@everychildpromise.org. On Facebook: Facebook.com/EveryChildPromise

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It’s about setting the foundation for a successful future.

The Every Child Promise, a community group committed to improving the lives of Springfield children, believes the most good can be done by focusing on the early years — birth through age 6.

“There’s a lot of reliable data that supports if you invest in kids in the earlier years you won’t have to spend as much fixing the problems,” said Todd Parnell, who co-chairs the Every Child Promise with wife Betty Parnell, a former teacher and counselor. “It’s either you invest now or you invest a lot more later.”

A year ago, the Every Child Promise started exploring ways to combat the most critical issues facing local children: poverty, abuse and neglect, poor health and nutrition, and inadequate school readiness.

It almost immediately decided the best approach was to empower families and expand access to resources so children — at the earliest possible point — can learn and grow at optimal levels.

“It’s important to give kids an opportunity at an even playing field,” said Todd Parnell, a former banker and former president of Drury University. “It’s making sure they have the opportunity, as families, to access the support they want and need.”

The focus on prevention and improving the early years was embraced by more than 150 volunteers — from the business, faith, education, nonprofit and other community sectors — who served on committees in September and October.

They drew on research and local expertise to come up with a series of “game-changing” recommendations in five areas: early child care, early childhood education, safety and security, food and nutrition, and health.

A few ideas include immediately feeding children through neighborhood food centers, providing tuition assistance for quality early child care, providing health screenings and assistance for young parents, training more child care workers to spot abuse and neglect, and expanding Parents as Teachers to a universal access model.

Whenever possible, the committees recommended building upon and expanding successful local efforts as well as improving the level of collaboration between groups to tighten safety nets.

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The leadership of the Every Child Promise pointed out that despite all the work that is being done locally to help families, this community is still struggling.

In Greene County, one out of every five children fail to enter kindergarten ready to learn; one in three children are “food insecure” — meaning they don’t regularly know where their next meal will come from; and child abuse rates continue to be higher than other parts of the state.

“We can’t continue to do the same things we’ve been doing,” Todd Parnell said. “As well-intentioned and as compassionate as we are, things haven’t gotten better for our youngest children.”

He argued more must be done so families facing challenges can “step outside of their circumstances” and improve their situation. Helping families, he added, will “improve our community.”

Dana Carroll, Springfield’s Child Advocate, said focusing on the early years makes the most sense because that’s when brains are developing and attitudes about learning are established.

“There is just so much more opportunity then,” said Carroll, who was the Community Partnership of the Ozarks’ deputy director of early childhood. “Kids, when they’re young, their brains are on fire and they’re excited for learning.”

Carroll said building a strong foundation for literacy and counting will make it easier to learn the skills they need to succeed in school. It is also more cost-effective than trying to go back and re-teach the basics later on.

“If they struggle, they aren’t going to love learning,” she said. “If we can prepare them for when they get to kindergarten, they are set up for success.”

Carroll said starting early and preventing problems is common sense.

“It wasn’t even something we had to debate,” she said. “…It wasn’t a hard sell on (focusing on) birth to age 6.”

The proposals, which started with how to meet children’s basic needs, were vetted by the community in a series of forums. Feedback will shape recommendations discussed this week by the Every Child Promise executive committee, which hopes to have a final plan by the end of the year.

Work will be prioritized and start in early 2014. A series of pilot programs are expected.

Carroll is pulling together the plan that will go to the executive committee. She expects it to include one overall goal and 9-10 “big ideas.” The next step will be to figure out the resources and logistics needed to make those happen.

“We’ll going to look to the executive committee to prioritize,” she said. “We are strategically thinking about some really big things. I think the group is going to be surprised by how many ‘big ideas’ we come up with.”